Addressing an unprecedented warning to Armenia, the United States have indicated to Monday, December 14 Yerevan authorities they could take sanctions against those who would be found guilty of fraud and irregularities in the constitutional referendum of 6 December.

This unexpected reaction, which comes as the Armenian authorities sent a plea in the demands of the Armenian opposition regarding verification of election results is in terms of lack of interest in Washington seemed to have sparked this Returning transforming the Armenian presidential system into a parliamentary system. But while the opposition is still furious, claiming the invalidity of a consultation that would have led to unprecedented irregularities, the US has probably wanted to remind Armenia’s democratic commitments, particularly in terms of elections.

The accusations of the opposition, confirmed by numerous observers who challenged the validity of the results and feel that power has revised up turnout to pass its reform, indeed Armenia return to a past that she had claimed ward, striving to improve its electoral processes over the polls. In a statement the same night of the referendum, the US Embassy in Yerevan called the Armenian authorities to conduct the fastest investigations of “credible allegations” of fraud that were made by opposition activists as by observers without partisan labels.

“We reiterate our call for the results of the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for any irregularities are transparent and public, so that the Armenian people have confidence in the integrity of the electoral process,” the statement said, including adding ” full and transparent investigations, and the publication of the minutes, even if it does not lead to prosecution, can only help the Electoral Commission, the National Assembly and civil society to improve the current electoral procedures. “ “According to the US commitment to fighting corruption worldwide, the Embassy of the United States can also rely on the information contained in such reports to help determine whether a particular individual who directly compromise the integrity the electoral process of December 6 is able to attend the Embassy of programs or activities, “the text of the statement.

In terms diplomatic least, the United States seem willing to register blacklisted Armenian officials that contributed to distort the results of the referendum. The embassy, ​​however, did not specify the scope of such registration and whether such individuals could be denied entrance to the US territory or have their accounts frozen. The United States had not denied criticizing the conduct of the various elections in Armenia in the past. But this is the first time that Washington openly agitates the threat of sanctions against the Armenian officials suspected of electoral fraud.

Richard Giragosian, a political scientist Yerevan from the United States, sees’ the first step towards the “US sanctions against Armenian officials. He does not hesitate to compare this initiative to visa bans and the freezing of assets imposed on Russian officials involved in the concealment of the circumstances of the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in prison in 2009 after revealing a vast scandal Corruption in Russia. The US diplomatic mission issued a statement three days after the press conference Attorney General Gevorg Kostanian on ongoing investigations into alleged cases of fraud and irregularities during the referendum.

G. Kostanian indicated that 14 criminal proceedings were engaged, but had resulted in no arrests. G.Kostanian added that the Armenian police had received more than 460 complaints about the conduct of the referendum, stating that a “fraud claim is not necessarily synonymous with crime.” The deputy director of the Commission of Inquiry, Aram Tamazian, made a similar statement at a press conference on December 14. “The number of reports [of fraud] does not necessarily reflect the number of violations”, he had said, adding that 92% of polling stations had no complaints addressed to the authorities concerned. M.Tamazian stressed that the authorities are doing everything possible to identify and punish those responsible for such violations, against which proceedings could be initiated in the coming days.
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